Parisa Mehran

Tag Archives: Blackboard

Mehrasa and I had two poster presentations on our joint PhD project at JALT2017.

1. Multimodal e-Feedback in an Online English Course

As online English courses are growing in popularity exponentially in higher education, providing electronic feedback is also gaining currency, as students might feel disconnected, unengaged, and unsupported if they are not provided with effective feedback. The provision of electronic feedback can be enhanced through multimodality, particularly in asynchronous online environments. There are also a number of factors such as social presence and collaboration which are related to feedback effectiveness.

In this study, we explored the use of online interaction platforms available on Blackboard Learn and web-based tools such as VideoNot.es to provide multimodal electronic feedback in an online course of English for General Academic Purposes (EGAP), entitled Osaka University Global English Online (OUGEO). Additionally, we examined how Japanese learners of English perceive the multimodal electronic feedback they have received on their online writing and speaking tasks. We also investigated the perceived usefulness of the provided feedback in relation to learner collaboration and sense of presence in the online course. To collect data, we asked the participants to respond to a set of surveys and open-ended questions.

The findings indicated that the majority of students valued the multimodality of the feedback on their productive tasks. Furthermore, the students’ perception of social presence and collaboration was found to be related to their perception of feedback usefulness. Finally, we discussed the practical implications for providing effective online multimodal feedback as well as further facilitating collaborative online environments.

2. Developing a Blended Course: Why Quality Matters

In this poster presentation, we reported on the development, implementation, and evaluation phases of a blended course of English for general academic purposes targeting second-year undergraduate Japanese students at Osaka University. In general, the course aimed to develop students’ practical English skills to help them advance to higher levels of conversational and academic English up to B2 and C1 levels of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR).

The basic Successive Approximation Model proposed by Allen (2012) informed the design and development of the online course. In order to ensure course quality from the outset, we used the Quality Matters® Higher Education Rubric (Fifth Edition) as the major reference. The pedagogical practices within this fifteen-week course hinge on recent approaches in ELT, e.g., project-based language learning. As part of the evaluation process, we measured the students’ perception on the usefulness of the course quantitatively and qualitatively through an attitudinal survey instrument and open ended reflection questions. Furthermore, to deploy learning analytics, we analyzed the data generated by the learning management system Blackboard Learn, also known as CLE (Collaboration and Learning Environment) to further delve into students’ performance, track their progress, and provide insights into ways to improve it. Eventually, to examine learner achievement and the fulfillment of learning outcomes, we also examined the students’ scores on the placement test, weekly assigned tasks, as well as quizzes and the final exam.

Mehrasa (on site) and I (virtually due to three rounds of visa refusal, and I’ll blog the story and my virtual attendance very soon in detail) had two presentations at EUROCALL 2017.

Our first presentation focused on the iterative stages involved in designing and developing our EGAP (English for General Academic Purposes) blended course offered at Osaka University, titled Osaka University Global English Online (OUGEO), which was implemented in the spring semester of 2017 over a period of fifteen weeks. First, the basic Successive Approximation Model (SAM) was introduced as the guiding instructional design model upon which the course had been created. Afterward, the stages of design and development of the blended course were explicated with a focus upon assessing Japanese students’ English language needs and their e-learning readiness, determining the course overall goals and module learning objectives, optimizing course technologies and the availability of technical support, designing the course syllabus, materials, tasks, and activities, organizing team teaching, as well as managing formative and summative evaluation. Additionally, the way in which the iteration process allowed for the discovery of some possibilities and problems at the early phases of the blended course design and development, and the refinements which were made to benefit from the affordable opportunities and to mitigate the difficulties were discussed. The use of Open Educational Resources (OERs) were also expounded in the light of Copy Right issues, and the authoring tools utilized in digitizing the materials alongside their merits and demerits were described. Finally, the Quality Matters Higher Education Rubric and its effectiveness in raising course quality assurance were reviewed.

Our second presentation was about the results of the use of an AR application, called BlippAR, to augment poster carousel tasks in our blended course. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected through a usage experience questionnaire, an open-ended feedback form, and observations. The implemented AR application was described, and the overall positive user experience was reported, along with displaying the samples of collaborative student-generated AR work. The rewards and challenges of having students design AR content were also discussed. Moreover, the implications of AR for English language teaching and learning, the pedagogical potentials afforded by this technology, and recommendations for further research were provided.

In our poster presentation at JALT CALL 2017, Mehrasa and I focused on the design and development phases of an online course of English for General Academic Purposes (EGAP), which we have referred to as Osaka University Global English Online (OUGEO).

Unlike ADDIE’s five giant sequential steps, SAM (Successive Approximation Model) is an iterative, cyclical, and agile approach to instructional design which tries to address the roadblocks in the way of instructional designers in repeated small steps.

Following that, we explained the intertwined design and development phases of our prospective online course, which include the following: Assessing students’ needs and technological skills, defining the course overall goal and learning objectives, determining online course technologies, requirements, accessibility, connectivity, and support system, developing course syllabus, instructional materials (available via these hashtags: #OsakaUniversityGlobalEnglishOnline #OUGEO), tasks and activities, objective-based assessment, management strategies for team teaching, and formative and summative course evaluation. We also discussed copyright restrictions, the use of Open Educational Resources (OERs), as well as several e-learning authoring tools and their merits and demerits. Finally, we touched upon issues related to quality assurance with reference to the Quality Matters Higher Education Rubric.

Despite the rapid growth of online teaching and learning at institutes of higher education worldwide, switching to online courses can pose a great challenge to those involved in creating and administering them. In our presentation at Osaka JALT Back to School 2017, Mehrasa and I tried to simplify, clarify, and exemplify the process of online course design.

We focused on practices that we found successful in designing online English courses based on the related literature and our hands-on experience as online instructional designers.

Under the project title of Osaka University Global English Online (OUGEO), we designed and developed, and are now implementing, a blended course of English for General Academic Purposes (EGAP) at Osaka University targeting second-year undergraduate students for a period of 15 weeks, of which 10 sessions are purely online and 5 sessions are face-to-face.

Osaka University has been using the Blackboard Learn™ platform since 2005, which is known as CLE (Collaboration and Learning Environment). I used to be a Moodler, and I personally prefer Moodle, because Blackboard often gets buggy, which makes the process of online course design extremely slow! That is why many universities are switching to Moodle such as Montana State University, California State University, and Long Beach (Blackboard Learn: Criticism).

Here is the list of major bugs I struggled with during the development phase of the online course, named Osaka University Global English Online (OUGEO):